Tassie Coin Impression MyI no. 724
Purchased May 6, 2022.
Purchased From: Online shop of Timothy Medhurst. Original listing no longer available online.
Description: An Early 19th Century Grand Tour Wax Coin Impression Of An Ancient Greek Tetradrachm Of The Mysia Islands Off Troas, Tenedos, c.100.70 B.C.
7.3cm wide.
Obverse: Janiform head composed of a laureate and bearded head of Zeus to left and a diademed head of Hera to right: Reverse: TENEDIWN Double axe, below left a monogram of PA and bunch of grapes, below right a caps of the Dioscouri (owl). All within laurel wreath.
The wax Impression laid to resin within its original card slip, numbered in ink “474”.
Cf: For a coin struck with the same obverse die; Ex Rosenber 72, 1932, 585; Leu 18, 1977, 182 and NFA XVIII, 1987, 183 sales. From the von Aulock and Harald Salvesen collections.
The condition is very nice, some minor wear to the card as expected with age, no damage or repair to the wax or resin surface. An attractive and very decorative piece. Medhurst original images shown below.
From Catalogue of Greek coins in the Hunterian collection
“Catalogue of Greek Coins in the Hunterian Collection”, Vol II, University of Glasgow
by Hunterian Museum (University of Glasgow); MacDonald, George, 1862-1940
Publication date 1899
Topics Coins, Greek
Publisher Glasgow, J. Maclehose and Sons
Text p304 pdf 320/734; see note below for image.
v. 1. Italy, Sicily, Macedon, Trace, and Thessaly.–v. 2. North western Greece, Central Greece, Southern Greece, and Asia Minor.–v. 3. Further Asia, Northern Africa, Western Europe
“Janiform head of late style; head on l., bearded and laur.; head on r., wearing stephane, and having long hanging tress.”
“TENEDWIN (above) Double-axe; in field 1., TA and vine-branch with buch of grapes; in field r., owl l., head facing; the whole within laurel-wreath.”
Image: [Cf. B.M.C., PL, XVII. 12.]
Note: From p2 in Vol 1 — In references for illustrations “B.M.C.” means in each case the appropriate volume of the British Museum Series of Coin Catalogues. MyI was not able to locate the referenced image.
But, with a little persistence and the aid of the seemingly unlimited resources of the internet the answer was found –
The trick is to find the “appropriate volume” In the Series: “Catalogue of the Greek Coins in the British Museum” alone, there are 28 volumes. All of the Series and Volumes are listed at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Museum_Catalogues_of_Coins
In this case the coin had been identified as being from Tenedos, which through some hit and miss was found to be geographically located at the entrace to the Dardenelles in Asia Minor This led to finding “Vol. 17: Troas, Aeolis, and Lesbos – W. Wroth (1894)”
Searching “Vol. 17: Troas, Aeolis, and Lesbos forumancientcoins dannyjones” (this is the typical search phrase that brings result fastest – forumancientcoins and dannyjones being the site) brought me to Forum of Ancient Coins, “Catalogue of Greek Coins – Troas, Aeolis, and Lesbos”, which was the pdf of the entire Vol 17 catalog—
Sure enough Plate XVII images 6-14 are very similar to ours with no. 13 being the closest. No. 28 in the text (p94) seems to be an exact match (no image).
The B.M.C. coin is quite similar to the impression, however, it can easily be seen that they are not identical.
Back to the drawing board. What about coin Tenedos No. 4 in the Hunterian catalog (Vol II p304), which for some reason was not photographed, referring instead to the B.M.C. image.
Jesper Ericsson, the Curator of Numismatics at the Hunterian, may be able to help
